Reaction to Butler

The idea that gender is separate from sex and is a social construct is an extremely important point. To participate in society, we are asked to uphold the rules and regulations of performing our sex in ourselves and also to uphold it in others. As she writes, “Sex is an ideal construct which is forcibly materialized through time” (Butler, 236). Butler’s writing illustrates how those who attempt to distance themselves from or devalue the socially constructed rules surrounding sex are punished in attempts to steer them back to the norm. Additionally, “Performativity is thus not a singular ‘act’ for it is always a reiteration of a norm or set of norms, and to the extent that it acquires an act-like status in the present, it conceals or dissimulates the conventions of which it is a repetition” (Butler, 241). The rules and norms we are expected to follow are implicit and explicit, passed down and either supported through acceptance and approval or dismissal and scorn. But any way, it is a self-regulating and outside-regulated system, and enforcement comes from all sides. Butler seems to point out that while we may not agree with the norms, many of us are unconsciously enforcing them in others and ourselves.